Pools must be right in the financial do!drums now with every games attendances well down. Why didn't Raj just go when he had the chance but he wanted more. He certainly hasn't increased the value of the club.

I thought this was related to money spent in houses of ill repute.

My educated guess is that season ticket sales are paying for stuff at the moment. It's been said on here that season tickets fund the club until the new year, around February or so. With crowds and by the looks of it corporate tickets bringing in less income, it's a worry what will happen after that.

Well he decided he was sick of it last year and asked for a buyer so the Trust did their best to find only to back out.

In this strange world you could well be right.

I am a HUST member and the Consortium put together by the trust didn't back out. The offers (2 of them) were rejected and Raj said wasn't interested in negotiating with them any more. Club has close to 3 million in debt and most of it owed to Raj. I am led to believe the offers fell well short of that to him. Consortium had local business leaders, decent money and especially the member led by Shelley Hammond and had experienced and successful football people people from the town.

Who would pay money for a club that loses money 95% of the time for the last 20 years and has massive debts. That would be termed a libaility not an asset. Raj will have added to the debt he is owed and ultimately it comes down to what he wants to do. Every year is another 500k to a million more with no end in sight.

The sooner owners are barred from putting money in as loans the better.

Exactly that Herr Flick. I bet most past Pools Chairman/Owners never got nowhere near what they had put in back.

Raj is dreaming if he wants 3million back, it’s a sunk cost pal, and your losing more each week with your stupid appointments, sell up for a few hundred k , and give someone else a crack

Yes I understand what you say, I meant Raj backed out but in my excitement my grammar was written very badly. Raj has backed himself into a corner and I can't see any escape for him.

Anyone investing in a club at this level and expecting a return on it is away with the fairy’s….. it’s like lending money to a family who can’t afford to pay it back.
No good hanging around unless you’re hoping a good run might interest a potential buyer…..fat chance of that.

Why should you be able to call your investments a loan, and therefore a debt against the club? You bought a football club, if you want to throw millions at it to pursue promotion, crack on, it's YOUR club. Why should you be able to throw money you haven't got at it, then saddle that debt to the football club? By all means, convert money invested to equity, but no way should you be able to lumber the club with it once you've had enough.

To have wracked up that amount of debt I would have thought the financial institutions would want to see some form of guarantee you can cover it, Pools don’t have that in assets. Buy a house the bank wants to if you have the income and collateral in the property to cover the mortgage.
IOR said they were ‘losing’ a million pound a season and they had subsided thPools by around £12 million pounds over the years.

Having a club in debt to the owners is surely better than financial ruin? Aren't Man Utd and Liverpool both in massive debt?

Raj has apparently put money into Pools but it is recorded as a loan. The question I ask is what would have happened if he had not loaned the Club money.

I had in on very good authority that I.O.R. did not lose £1 million a year. I was told by a man involved in a major role employed by I.O.R. for years before and during the takeover that it was nothing more than to offset taxes.

Whatever the ins and out of the initial 'loan' what is really disappointing is a fatalistic view that the club will just continue losing money and it's only Raj that's keeping us afloat each season. I thought he had some gaul saying the consortium didn't have a three year business plan, when we have stumbled along for season after season. There is no proper effort at engaging with the local business community, the stadium is sponsored by Raj, he's had to sponsor shirts (I'd bet a big amount of money the sponsorship ended up as another loan btw.) Previous sponsors have been pissed off, there are empty walls all over the ground where there used to be advertising boards. Fans get taken for granted, corporate seats are going begging and it goes on.
We got lucky with promotion and cup runs, the sort of season that can steady of the ship of clubs like us but from the latest accounts and empty ground, its all heading in the wrong direction.
The bills are getting paid is a classic comeback but when it's all on a credit card, well that worries me.

I think Raj made it clear he wants his money back if he sells and he's prepared to wait until a bit of success either by means of cup runs, promotion, or transfer fees.
And the fatalistic view as you call it is actually the reality and it is Raj that's keeping us ticking over. Hopefully he's prepared to hang around until someone else is prepared to tie the millstone that is HUFC around their neck.

This is " 100% the last chance saloon " if we do not achieve promotion then playoffs are better than nothing. If we fail to get a top 7 spot we are foooked period. And if we don't start winning from now on the crowds will be less than the season tickets sold. I for one will stop attending if things don't improve dramatically even if that means I have lost my season ticket money.

Yes it was paper losses from what I also heard, I was repeating factually what Hodcroft said, he admitted that Pools were registered in the Virgin Islands or some other tax haven to offset taxes.
Watch Switch of Play, Mark Simpson and Micky Barron interview Ken Hodcroft.
https://youtu.be/mliugJG0tZk?si=Gvm85k3yDgYdxsQB

Raj must have some genius running Prestige and making money because it sure is not him by the amount of cock ups he has made at Pools bar Challinor he can not get us a decent manager. He has not the faintest ide what is going on and looking at Lennie Lawrence he does not appear to know what day of the week it is.

I think they leave the money invested on the books as loans as it helps for tax reasons. The issue is that Raj will never get anyone to pay him for the money he has seemingly wasted. The people interested last time probably aren't anymore and how many people from or connected to the town have the money or interest in the club to keep making offers. Anyone withut any connection to the town would only ever se it as a busines sto try andmake money from and i think its pretty clear that is not possible in the football game in the lower leagues. Almost all clubs bleed money and especially if trying to make progress.

So we in less debt than those 2.
Superb
Positively brought to a new level!?

Probably attracted a better quality manager.
But a few would rather carry this shit on for the sake of a letter or word change.
Remember when we were called.
Hartlepool.

Sorry.
Hartlepools

Hartlepool City
Athletic
Academicals
County
Nomads
Community Welfare.

The club has been for sale for over 2 years now and in all that time there's been 1 approach to buy, and that was cobbled together with the aid of the Trust.
They didn't meet the conditions for a sale (fi ancially or otherwise) so Raj is still at the helm keeping us afloat and if that's through loans then that's surely preferable to the alternative?
It's easy for anyone to say he should have sold or he's asking too much but none of us know the true facts. I suppose equally you could ask why didn't the Consortium just give him what he wanted to get shot of him (wasn't a £14m cashpoint available)?
I'd say from the players we've brought in it looks as if a genuine attempt at promotion was the aim, at the end if the day success on the field is the only way hell get any of his money back. Raj, the players, and Us the fans are being let down hugely by the manager and coaching staff. Unless anyone really believes that Raj, Walter Mitty Shithead, LL, or others are picking the team and dictating tactics?

like it or not thats true. name all the clubs not in debt or debts written off by owners or converted into shares in the clubs. the structure and number of teams allowed to play without debts would look very different than it does today. be a very small single division. big question is who is or are to blame for this cancer in the game.

thats all true but truth hurts to many especially if they have their own agendas.

The only agenda the vast majority of fans have is care for their club, security for their club and a hope that we’re competitive.
I totally get people saying the bills are being paid, what’s the alternative. The issue is the club is pushing the problem of debt down the road. We have a huge issue brewing and no plan for how the club might continue. We might be fine this season (although perhaps not with dwindling crowds and therefore reduced income.) We’ve seen Raj isn’t bothered about pulling the plug on a football club though and that’s why it might look like some people have an agenda against Raj - it’s natural that people are concerned and see potential buyers being turned away as a missed opportunity to steady the ship.
When the trust tried to facilitate a buyout all their communications including interviews, mentioned sustainability, tying in with local businesses, putting fans first and maximising revenue. This seems more than sensible to me but for whatever reason the club is just bumbling along. Can anyone honestly say they feel as connected to the club as in years gone by? I just feel sad looking at the empty seats.

really doubt this whole issue would have cropped up if we were seeing decent games and the club would have a league position most expected at the start of the season. do not think the average fan at any club of our size feel connected as they once did due to how things have changed on and off the pitch over they years. clubs seem all corporate nowadays where that revenue is maximised before we get a second thought. then there are the players themselves who rarely live in the town they play for giving them less closeness to fans and the town itself.